Just how much has social media and the digital changed us? As Wachler's book "Influenced" explains, we can live in the same neighborhood or street and feel like we are worlds apart. "Influenced" is a really interesting book about just how much we are influenced by social media. Social media affects almost every aspect of our lives: how we interact with others, who we interact with, and what subjects we choose to focus on. It has caused a growing divide between people over politics, gender/sexuality, and culture. We are fragmented and cannot agree on anything. Social media algorithms are built to keep us on their sites. And once we are hooked, the algorithm can push us in any direction. There are palpable dangers to the influence of social media.

However, Wachler's approach fails to encompass and address the urgency of these subjects. He focuses more on an influencer's perspective, which I do not believe applies to a mainstream audience. The book ends up describing the author's journey to understanding influencers and ends up going well off track from what I was expecting the book to be about, namely to address many of the concerns of using social media. For those with little knowledge of content creation, the author's journey might be interesting, but otherwise, other books might be more suitable for gaining relevant insights on the effects of social media.

The science of social media is fascinating. And while there is a lot of really interesting information on this topic, I really was expecting to see more about how to use that science. For me this book didn't really go as far as I wanted.

Information that is valuable to consider as we watch new generations becoming adults raised among this Information.

This was a deeply informative book. Dr. Brian's experience with Tiktok fame led for an informative perspective on some of the issues that will plague society for many, many years to come. Social media has become an indispensable part of human experience and those who are social-media literate (especially parents) will be the ones who will want to read this book. Learning about the positive and negative effects of social media give the user the opportunity to make decisions and not fall pray to common traps. I think this book is especially good for parents whose kids are around social-media usage age. Using social media with a critical eye is so important and having this skill is what Dr. Brian preaches in this book (Perceptual Intelligence). I come away from this book with a renewed sense of focus when using social media and reflective consideration of whether I am addicted to social media. Thank you to Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler and the Rowman & Littlefield team for an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This look into the effects of social media on individuals will be published on October 29, 2022. Rowman and Littlefield provided me an early galley in exchange for an honest review.

What attracted me to this particular book was the topic itself. I have been on social media for quite a long time (as a blogger since 2007, on Facebook since 2009, and on Twitter since 2010), sharing my thoughts and views on a variety of subjects. While it is not an overwhelming part of my life, it has had its moments where I was very dedicated to it. As such, I was very curious to see what insights on this activity that Dr. Wachler could shed light on. As it turns out, there is a variety of useful information within these pages.

I liked how Wachler approached his discussion, breaking things into their logical components and building upon them. His approach is not one that is overly scholarly or stuffy. He describes things in everyday terms with an eye towards educating and informing. He also gives a very balanced view on things - equally covering both the negatives and the positives of this medium.

And, if I may, a word or two about the cover: I think it is very effective. The plain white background with black lettering, the latter supplemented with the use of familiar social media logo elements, is attractive in its simplicity. It will pop on the shelf, enticing the casual browser to check it out.

I think Influenced will be beneficial to both those who are firmly entrenched into social media and those who have zero experience with it as well. In fact, the latter group might definitely benefit from it as they can discover how powerful this medium has come in a very short time.

Influenced taught me some new things, confirmed some suspicions and thoughts I've already been sorting through, and providing me with useful context and scientific evidence to back up important concerns and arguments made about the pros and cons of engaging with social media.

In particular, I have never heard the term Perceptual Intelligence before and it was helpful to understand PI's impact on social media influence, who is more influenced than others and why.

A great resource for those wanting to better understand the psychology behind social media influence.

This book holds some good points in its pages. Lots of here is what I found to be true scenarios that may or may not help you.